Effect of Thermophysical Seed Treatments on Plant Growth, Yield and Diseases Incidence in Bell Pepper
Ruchika *
Department of Seed Science and Technology, Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh 173 230, India.
Narender K. Bharat
Department of Seed Science and Technology, Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh 173 230, India.
Anu Sharma
Department of Seed Science and Technology, Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh 173 230, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The experiment was conducted to extrapolate the effect of different thermophysical seed treatments on plant growth, yield and disease incidence in bell pepper cv. Solan Bharpur. Ten treatments based on temperature-duration combinations of different thermophysical seed treatments viz., hot water seed treatment (49°C/45 min, 49°C/60 min and 50°C/60 min), hot air seed treatment (72°C/24 h, 72°C/36 h and 74°C/48 h) and microwave seed treatment (5 s, 10 s and 15 s at 900 Micro power level) along with untreated (control) were used for raising nursery and field transplantation. Under field conditions, the maximum values w.r.t. plant height, avg. fruit weight, no. of fruit per plant, fruit yield per plant, fruit yield per plot, fruit yield per ha, harvest duration and minimum values w.r.t. days to first marketable picking, incidence of diseases like Anthracnose, Cercospora leaf spot and Phytophthora rot were recorded in hot water seed treatment at 50°C/60 min. The incidence of virus diseases was recorded lowest in hot air seed treatment at 74°C/48 h in bell pepper cv. Solan Bharpur.
Keywords: Bell pepper, seed treatment, hot water treatment, hot air treatment, microwave treatment